Michael Portillo arrives in the nation's capital, Washington DC, centre of political power in the world's most powerful country. He discovers how it was built from scratch after a political compromise between north and south.

At the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Michael meets the man responsible for engraving the portrait of President Abraham Lincoln on the current five-dollar bill and gets his hands on more money than he has ever held in his life.

In the offices of The Washington Post, Michael learns how, at the time of his guidebook, the newspaper commissioned a march which won a place in the hearts of Americans. He hears how more recently, Washington Post journalists toppled a president. Michael sees for himself the site where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865 and, at the vast memorial to him, seeks to understand his legacy.

He soaks up some old-school jazz where Duke Ellington began his career and grabs a bite at the diner chosen by President Obama for a snack before his inauguration. At the United States Naval Observatory, Michael discovers the railroad origins of the time zones in operation across the US. Heading south to Alexandria, Virginia, Michael explores a former slave market and hears how African-Americans were once bought and sold. He ends this leg in Mount Vernon, the Palladian home of the nation's first president, George Washington, where he gets into a spot of bother at an archaeological dig.